Guide to Russia

Russia National Day
by: Jane S. Roseen

Russia Day is one of the newest holidays celebrated by the Russian people. This does not mean, however, that it comes without due pomp and circumstance. Although it’s still young, Russia Day is evolving into a holiday revered by the Russian people.

On June 12, 1990, the Russian parliament formally declared its sovereignty from the Soviet Union. The National Sovereignty Declaration set the wheels in motion for the creation of what is now known as the Russian Federation, or more commonly Russia.

Russia Day was officially recognized by Boris Yeltsin in 1991 as a national holiday. As the new federation developed over the next decade, the holiday wasn’t truly celebrated in any other method than the Russian people having a day off of work. There just wasn’t any large national unity around the day.

This changed, however, in 2003. For the first time in 47 years, warplanes flew over the Kremlin to celebrate Russia Day. After a magnificent parade reminiscent of the Soviet military parades on Revolution Day, President Vladimir Putin watched from a stage in front of Lenin's tomb on Red Square. Dozens of dignitaries including Boris Yeltsin joined President Putin as the 10 military jets flew in triangular formation overhead.

"On this day, we honor our motherland, our Russia. We honor the country of a thousand years history and unique heritage, the country which united on a huge space many peoples, territories and cultures," Putin said in an address to the crowd on this historic Russia Day.

This celebration set the tone for Russia Day festivities since. Bands often play some of the most popular songs in Russian history, including tunes from the Soviet era. Cavalrymen gallop across public squares (including Red Square) wearing uniforms from the early 1800’s, prior to the Russian Revolution. Historical parades feature the uniforms dating from other periods of Russia's military glory, including during the reign of Peter the Great and Catherine II.

In addition to the show of military magnificence, people choose to use Russia Day to celebrate the history of their individual communities within Russia. Representatives from various regions show off the distinctive dress and dance styles of their respective communities, highlighting Russia's cultural and ethnic diversity.

These shows are staged throughout the country, not just in Moscow. It’s estimated that one million people have attended Russia Day (or Independence Day) celebrations in recent years, a number that’s only expected to grow as Russia Day evolves into an even more beautiful celebration of Russia past and present.

About The Author

Jane S. Roseen is the Owner and President of Harmony Sweets, an international gourmet chocolate shop. Harmony Sweets' mission focuses on individual consumers purchasing gourmet chocolates from around the world for their friends and relatives, as well as corporate gift giving. Gourmet chocolate gift baskets and personalized chocolates are also available.

Website: Harmony Sweets

Peter the Great’s Summer Palace – St. Petersburg, Russia
by: Rick Chapo

During the communist reign in Russia, architectural styles could best be described as bland. Fortunately, the summer palace of Peter the Great wasn’t affected.

Peterhof

Known as Peterhof, the summer palace of Peter the Great is a very impressive area. The palace is arranged with a central rectangle format over roughly two or three acres. This area is then surrounded by areas of wood and “nature” as the Russians call it. Peterhof stands out like a jewel among the bland communist structures found in greater St. Petersburg.

Fountains, Fountains, Fountains

At the time of construction in 1715, Peter the Great was clearly in his “fountain” phase. Peterhof isn’t so much a palace as a collection of some of the most impressive fountains you’ve ever seen. There are fountains in the front, back, each side, in the bathroom and so on. All of them are impressive and worth a look.

Foremost of the fountains of Peterhof is the Great Cascade. Arriving from St. Petersburg by boat, one is offloaded on a long pier at the end of the Grand Canal. The Grand Canal cuts through the woods surrounding Peterhof directly to the front of the palace. As you proceed, you start to notice something big and colorful at the front of the palace. Welcome to the Great Cascade.

The Great Cascade sites at the base of Peterhof and is more impressive than the palace. Created in the Baroque style, the Great Cascade is hard to describe. At its base is a pool a large pool with rock platforms crowned by golden statutes spouting water. Rising up from the pool to the palace are two sets of steps surrounding a plateau. The steps are a combination of black marble inlaid with gold and white marble. The steps are crowned with statues and, again, fountains, which make them a combination of sprouting water and cascading falls. All of this is built up on a collection of rock and rises over 30 feet to the base of the palace. As I said, the Great Cascade is hard to describe. If you would like to see it, just do a search for “Peterhof” on your search engine of choice.

Perhaps the most impressive thing about the Great Cascade is the power source. With fountains blowing water thirty to fifty feet in the air, there must be some serious pump action at work? Nope. Peter the Great created a system that runs entirely off gravity. Great, indeed!

Day trips to Peterhof are hocked something fierce in St. Petersburg. While I usually disdain tourist traps, this is one you should definitely see.

About The Author

Rick Chapo is with Nomad Journals - makers of travel journals. Writing journals are the perfect travel accessories. Visit Nomad Journals to read more travel articles and travelogues.

Impressions of Siberia
by: Rick Chapo

Mention the word “Siberia,” and images of gulags, frozen tundra and wastelands may come to mind. While there is some truth to these, my impressions of Siberia included more.

Siberia comprises more than 75 percent of modern Russia. Unless you visit, there is simply no way to describe the total landmass of this much-maligned area of the world. To give you some perspective, consider the fact that Siberia is bigger than Canada, has more natural resources than any area of the world, spans nine time zones and contains the largest plain in the world.

One of the best ways to give you an impression of the size of Siberia is to discuss the infamous gulag system. When one thinks of a gulag or prison, visions of guards with guns, electrified fences and so on come to mind. In Siberia, most of the gulags did not have fences or any kind of barrier to keep people in. With freezing temperatures in the winter, huge rivers of mud and water in the summer, Siberia formed a natural gulag for many of the prisoners. If a prisoner escaped from a gulag, there was simply nowhere to go. The closest population center might be 1,000 miles away.

“Siberia” comes from the Mongolian word “sibir”, which means "sleeping land." In the early 1700's, Siberia became a place of exile. It continued to be "the last stop" for criminals and political exiles throughout much of the 20th century. The city of Chita is in fact known as the “City of Exiles.”

With the end of communism, Siberia has seen a voluntary migration of Russians who work on the Trans-Siberian Railway or in the massive natural resource industries. Siberia is the home to tremendously large oil, gold, timber and diamond deposits. With the turn to capitalism, the country is making a major effort to take advantage of such resources. This has led to a population explosion in cities such as Irkutsk, Chita and Ulan Ude.

Siberia is always depicted as a land of freezing snow. Having lived there, I can tell you it does get “Oh, my god” cold in the winter. Temperatures can drop into the –40s. In the spring and summer, however, temperatures can reach as high as 110 degrees. With such a massive area, the climates and temperatures fall all over the map. Put another way, the United States could fit in Siberia, so you can see how temperatures might vary.

Lake Baikal

Lake Baikal is the largest fresh water lake in the world. Fed by over 300 rivers, the lake is really an inland sea. The lake has over 30 islands. If you drained all of the water from lakes Superior, Erie, Huron, Michigan and Ontario, you still couldn’t fill Lake Baikal. Standing on one shore, you cannot see the other side. It is simply huge.

Siberia is one of the few locations in the world still considered to be an untamed adventure travel destination. You can fish, hike, camp, hunt, drink vodka, ski, swim, take in a spa and do just about anything you like. The Siberians are universally friendly and can tell one heck of a story.

If you get a chance to visit Siberia, I highly recommend it. Heck, I stayed for a year!

About The Author

Rick Chapo is with Nomad Journals - makers of diary and writing journals. Visit Normad Journal Trips to read more about travel and the great outdoors.

Tetris
by: Played Online

In 1985, Alexey Pazhitnov invented Tetris as part of a science project for the University of Sciences in Moscow. The name Tetris is derived from the Greek word "Tetra" which stands for four – as all the pieces in the game are made of four blocks.

Seven randomly rendered tetrominoes or tetrads - shapes composed of four blocks each - fall down the playing field. The object of the game is to manipulate these tetrominoes with the aim of creating a horizontal line of blocks without gaps. When such a line is created, it disappears, and the blocks above (if any) fall. As the game progresses, the tetrominoes fall faster, and the game ends when the stack of Tetrominoes reaches the top of the playing field.

The seven rendered tetrominoes in Tetris are referred to as I, T, O, L, J, S, and Z. All are capable of single and double clears. I, L, and J are able to clear triples. Only the I tetromino has the capacity to clear four lines simultaneously, and this clear is referred to as a "tetris." (This may vary depending on the rotation and compensation rules of each specific Tetris implementation; For instance, in the "Tetris Worlds" rules used in many recent implementations, certain rare situations allow T, S and Z to 'snap' into tight spots, clearing triples.)

It is believed to be one of the best selling games of all time, mostly due to it's availability on a great amount of platforms. Tetris has been featured in Arcades, mobile gaming devices such as Nintendo's Game Boy, mobile phones, PDAs, personal computers and of course the web.

The music for the original Game Boy edition of Tetris titled "Music A" has become very widely known. It is a in fact a Russian folk tune called "Korobeyniki". To this day it is estimated that two our of three adults living in the US identify the tune as "The Tetris tune".

Tetris is a registered trademark of the Tetris Company LLC, but the game itself is not copyrighted in the US (games cannot be copyrighted, only patented, and any Patent claims to Tetris would be expired by today) – which is why many Tetris clones legally exist.

About The Author

Played Online

Play a Flash version of Tetris at PlayedOnline.com.

noam@kadanit.com

Why Dating A Russian Woman Has Become Popular
by: Jason King

Thousands of single men worldwide have found happiness dating a Russian woman. And on the other end of the scale thousands of single men wouldn't even entertain the idea. There are many reasons why perfectly normal professional single men choose to marry a Russian lady.

Many of the single Russian women are successful already in their home country, and are just looking for a husband from abroad to care for them. They are not in it to scam anyone, they genuinely want to marry a foreign man, and start a new life in another part of the world.

Mail order bride services have been setting up marriages for years, and it has become a lot easier since everything is now conducted through the internet. Everything is arranged online right up until you go to Russia.

Single men from all over the world choose to start dating a Russian woman because they are something more attractive than they would normally date back home. These women see someone beyond their looks, and are very attracted to the way they're treated as women. This is what excites them about foreign men. You will find most men get a Russian bride who's a lot younger than they are. This comes back to the same quality as before. Older men will generally treat women better so older men have a better chance with Russian women.

Translation is something that has been made a lot easier since the internet came into play. If for some reason the Russian lady doesn't speak English the software will take care of that. Even when you get to Russia the mail order ride service you have chosen to use will have translators there for you. Most of the Russian women will have learnt to speak English before hand. They know they want to meet someone from an English speaking country so they will have made the effort to learn the language. No Russian woman who's serious about getting a foreign husband can expect to do so without learning a second language.

Once you have chosen your Russian Bride service you can start looking through the profiles of these beautiful women. You have the choice to start contacting someone from your end or you can go over to Russia and attend a "Social". There you will have the chance to meet hundreds of Russian women. These are professionally run events hosted by the Russian bride service, and they have staff in attendance as well.

There are plenty of Russian Bride services online, and you can find plenty of reviews about them as well. Join the thousands of happily married men who if is wasn't for dating a Russian woman would still be single.

For mail order bride reviews, and more online dating advice visit - Mail Order Brides

About The Author
Jason King is the web master and dating adviser at The Online Dating Reviews.

Get To Know Saint Petersburg!
by: Alexandra Korneeva

Legendary, beautiful, marvelous… This is Saint Petersburg – “the Northern Venice” of Russia – far and enchanting, attractive and fascinating. This is the city where you can find what you have desired for a long time, it is the place in this great World where your dreams come true!

St. Petersburg was founded on the Neva River by Tsar Peter the Great, on the 16th of May, 1703. Surely, the city is considered to be not a very old one, but it undoubtedly has a rich and powerful history, the study of which can help you to understand that a good deal of the greatest dates in the world and Russian history is connected with St. Petersburg.

They say, the city is the cultural capital of Russia, and anybody can hardly deny this fact. At a glimpse, one becomes aware that culture permeates through all the city, leaves its trace in all the spheres of St. Petersburg life.

Firstly, the look of the city – its architectural grandeur, luxurious parks, inviting streets, avenues and lanes, plenty of rivers and canals, the view of the Gulf of Finland - gives us an estimate of the large scale and grandiosity of St. Petersburg.

Secondly, the enormous number of cultural institutions - museums and art galleries, palaces of culture, theatres, concert and music halls, movie theatres, and so on and so forth – grant a lot of diverse positive impressions which give us an idea of the great potential ability of art to influence our life making it better, richer, brighter.

No matter if you come to St. Petersburg alone or with your family and friends, whether you on vocation or on business, you should certainly visit some of the greatest St. Petersburg places of note. Slip not the chance to stroll along the most famous avenue of the city – Nevskii Prospect -where you will see many historical and gorgeous buildings, the marvelous sculptures of the Anichkov Bridge, the picturesque Griboedov Canal…

An autobus city tour will help you to see other avenues and streets with their beautiful sights. A night city tour will give you a chance to see all the beauty of the illuminated city, and to watch a very well-known and attractive eye-catcher - swinging open of the city bridges.

If you are tired of roads and traffic jam, take a boat city tour on rivers and canals of St. Petersburg. It will allow you to enjoy the marvelous sights of the city being afloat.

After that, indubitably, you will wish to visit a celebrated place.

There is a wide range of famous museums in St. Petersburg, and the first ones to visit are: the Hermitage (or the Winter Palace) which is so huge that one can scarcely observe all the treasures kept there in even a several years’ time, the Russian Museum which is one of the greatest picture galleries in the World, the Peter and Paul Fortress situated on the Zayachiy Island which was erected for the purpose of defense and which is a historical museum at present.

Irrespective of your religion you should visit the splendid Orthodox cathedrals of St. Petersburg which present architectural and decoration masterpieces, beginning with the Kazansky Cathedral with its mighty semicircle of columns, the St. Isaac’s Cathedral which is one of the biggest dome buildings in the world and which has a colonnade permitting you to observe the city center, and the Spas-na-Krovi Cathedral with its unique outer décors.

And never miss the opportunity of going to the illustrious suburbs of St. Petersburg, such as Peterhof with its renowned fountain cascades located in front of the Great Peterhof Palace, the Pavlovsk Ensemble with its vast park where you can feed squirrels in summer, Pushkin where there is still the spirit of the great poet’s age.

In actual fact, it is impossible to enumerate all the values of this great magnetic city, it is much better to see everything with one’s own eyes. Saint Petersburg always greets any tourist with outstretched arms!

This site http://www.hotels-of-saint-petersburg.com can be of great help for you if you plan to visit Saint Petersburg or just want to know it better. There is much information about the city, and a database of comfortable apartments and hotel rooms where you can stay during your visit.

About The Author
Alexandra Korneeva works for the company Hotel Service located in Russia (St. Petersburg, Ligovsky prospect, 55-5). The site of this company is Hotels of Saint Petersburg It can be of great help for you if you plan to visit Saint Petersburg or just want to know it better. There is much information about the city, and a database of comfortable apartments and hotel rooms where you can stay during your visit.

Russian Romance – I Love You
by: Rick Chapo

Romance and Russia, the two words just go together. Unless, of course, you are trying to speak in Russian.

Russian Language

The Russian language is not one that is typically considered a romance language. Based on the Cyrillic alphabet, there are a lot of stops and starts not to mention the occasional harsh noise. Given the fact that I was from California and thus could barely speak proper English, it was all the more a challenge.

Russian Women

In that I was living in Russia for a year, it was inevitable I would pick up a Russian girlfriend. Hey, there had to be at least one crazy one in the city!

Russian women are much sought after for their beauty and grace. Indeed, 9 out of 10 desperate men prefer to order addresses from a Russian mail order bride web site versus all other nationalities. Okay, I made that up, but you get the idea.

In truth, I found Russian women to be all they are touted to be and excellent cooks. As a single male in Siberia sans microwave, the cooking part was critical. Due to the lack of Pepto in Siberia, poisoning oneself is not recommended.

Still, Russian women do suffer from one flaw inherent in all women. Upon finding a boyfriend lacking in certain areas, a Russian woman will endeavor to fix them. In my case, the improvement involved the Russian language and love.

Ya tyebya lyublyu! This is the Russian phrase for “I love you.” At no point in time could I pronounce it correctly. I could declare my love, but never in the right direction. Because of the nuances of the Russian language, my inability to profess my love would lead me to say the equivalent of:

“I love tree”

“I love door”

“I love dog”

Of course, I could cuss like a local, but that was frowned upon by the girlfriend.

After months of aggravation, my girlfriend became determined to resolve this flaw in my moral character. Practice was the key and practice I did. Like that odd person in the bookstore, I mumbled “Ya tyebya lyublyu!” everywhere I went. This often led to random Russian women smiling at me and less enthusiastic Russian men giving me harsh looks. I won’t even mention what the occasional dog tried to do to my leg. Despite my efforts, my immortal soul could not be fixed. We gave up. Still, she had the determined look in her eyes, so I knew I wasn’t out of the woods yet.

One fine Siberian winter morning, which is to say it was –30 degrees, I was groggily greeted by an excited Tatyana. I was ordered to say “yellow blue bus.” I did. I was told to say it faster. I did. A yelp of triumph was heard across the permafrost of Siberia.

I had learned how to say “I love you” in Russian.

The door to which I had professed my love so many times went into depression.

About The Author

Rick Chapo is Nomad Journals - makers of writing journals. Travel journals are great travel accessories and travel gifts for student travel, family vacations and adventure travel. Visit Nomad Journals for more travel articles.